From:
marchand@rainierconnect.com
Date: 2006-09-01 22:28:21 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Ulcer Treatment Failing - Ideas?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Desperation setting in. We've been treating our 7 yr (est) old male ferret (Wilson) for
Ulcers since ~July 15th. Symptoms initially included black tarry stools, severe teeth
grinding, stomach gurgling noises (often quite loud and I mean clear across the
room loud, especially following meals) and weight loss.
After an abortive attempt to start on Amoxi/Metro anti-biotics, our primary
treatement consisted of 1ml (1gm/10ml susp) Carafate and 1ml Pepto-Bismol
approx 4-6 times/day (10 minutes before meals), with a food change to Gerber's
Chicken (#2 - Blue Jar). Attempts to use *just* Carafate OR Pepto failed. By failed, I
mean grinding would increase in duration and intensity. Slow but steady
improvement was noted until stools returned to near normal ~ August 11th. Teeth
grinding greatly reduced, but continued.
We continued just this treatement intending to start on Amoxicillin/Biaxin when
teeth grinding cleared completely, but he started getting worse (increased
discomfort noted with more teeth grinding, obvious pain with squinted eyes, etc.) ~
19/20 Aug. In consultation with vet, decided to initiate Amoxi/Biaxin combo before
he deteriorated badly again hoping the antibiotics would work their magic. Began
combo on 24 Aug (once daily, 44 ml Amoxicillin (400mg/5ml susp) and 1ml
Clarithromycin (250mg/5ml susp)), in addition to Carafate/Pepto. Also started on
Pepcid (2-3 times/day, 0.25 ml (10mg/10ml susp)).
Separately, Wilson also suffers from Insulinoma. He underwent surgery in April (4
large tumors and several micro removed, but several micro remained). Following
surgery, glucose readings were still low, so we tried Prednisone/Prednisolone with
Diazoxide in several dosing levels to no avail. In May/June, we tried injected Depo-
Medrol (sorry, no dose avail), which stabilized blood sugar effectively, with
injections required approx. every 4 weeks.
Our vet consulted w/ vet that did Insulinoma surgery, and think it is possible he's
got Lymphoma. His blood work has consistenly shown slightly low WBC counts.
She recommended we try oral Prednisone, which we've resisted since he was
stressed when we tried using Prednisone to treat Insulinoma. However, at wits end,
we started him on it yesterday (Aug 31) (Prednisolone 0.7mg 2 times/day).
To make things a bit worse, he developed some sneezing and runny nose about 7
days ago. We guessed it was a cold, for which all our ferrets have been prescribed
Amoxi in the past. He appears to be getting over them now, but I'm sure having
that has not helped his recovery. I guess the one benefit of being on all that
medicine is that something was bound to help with his cold.
We're entering our 8th week trying to help him fight this illness. He has managed to
maintain the weight he gained back (from a low of 2 lbs, 0 oz to a high of 2 lbs, 5
oz), but his discomfort is still substantial, and nowhere near where he was a short 2
weeks ago when complete recovery appeared imminent. Still no signs of black-tarry
stools, but grinding is consistent when awake, and bad at times.
Pleading for any/all ideas.
Dale
[Quick Moderator's Note: ferrets do not get colds which are caused by a rhinovirus
and so do not respond to antibiotics. They do get some more serious things,
including bacterial sinus infections which do respond to antibiotics.]
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